When it Stopped Storming
by vertigoSWAY
Summary: The day the Doctor stopped being the Doctor was the day he disappeared, the day the storm lifted. The day the Doctor stopped being himself, the Medusa Cascade shimmered with stardust. Suspect, River Song: convicted of murder. TWOSHOT
1. Time Stopped, the aftermath

**Inspired by other River and Valeyard/DR fics out there.

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The laugh sliced through River Song's heart like a Dalek's laser. She'd heard him laugh before; she eventually even categorized them all. There was the funny laugh, the "I-can't-believe-it" laugh, the "let's go" laugh and so many more. But this one, it was manic. Like he'd lost his mind. The final straw being cut.

River Song was deathly afraid.

This was the man she had run across the stars with. They had saved planets together, whole galaxies even. Civilizations thrived on distant lands because of them. Now here he was, laughing in the midst of a crimson circle of blood and bodies.

"What happened?" River asked, trying to suppress her fear and put on a front of curiosity.

"Saved the world, of course," the Doctor laughed. "_Again_."

"Oh." River nodded her head in understanding.

"What've you been up to?"

"I, uh, linked up the retro-dimensional power on the other side of the city."

"Good, alright," the Doctor laughed again. He wiped his hands on his pants, staining them red. River grimaced inwardly. The Time Lord walked out from the bodies and headed in the direction of the TARDIS. River followed. "How did that go?" he inquired.

"You said that you could save them all. Half the town was destroyed. Half of the city's population was slaughtered."

"Sad," the Doctor agreed, but no trace of sorrow could be found in his voice.

"Yes, Doctor," River shot back as she closed the TARDIS doors behind her. "Yes, it's _devastating_."

"Who cares?" he shrugged.

River's mouth dropped open and her eyes went wide. "Well you _did_. Evidently you won't anymore."

The Doctor laughed again. The manic laugh. He fingered one of the dials on the console. "What does it matter?" he asked her. "They all die in the end. They all get in danger again. I just saved them the trouble."

"You took away their life!" she countered. "They trusted you!"

"Do you?" the Doctor asked her as his head shot around the time rotor.

"Excuse me?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Y-yes," River blurted.

"Well then…" The Time Lord made his way over to her and River began to feel even more scared. Uneasy even. Definitely uneasy. He whispered right in her face. "That's not good is it?"

"Doctor," River hissed stiffly.

"Don't call me that. A doctor makes people better. There's hardly a point to that in this world."

She stared right into his fighting eyes and tried to see the same man that she'd fallen for, the same man who she'd saved the world with. But he wasn't there anymore. She smirked and whispered his real name.

In an instant, she felt a slap across her face. She stumbled back and fell down. Somehow, in the middle of the commotion, the Doctor had taken hold of her gun. "You wouldn't," she countered.

"Try me?" The Doctor looked at her like she was just another nuisance. She whipped out her particle beam. One shot would have stunned him enough so that it would stop his heart. Another well aimed shot and it would kill him, permanently.

"Try me," River replied, her voice shaking with tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

"You wouldn't," the Doctor assured himself as he saw the tear escape her eye.

"What happened to you?" River asked. "You used to be so full of life."

"Life doesn't matter," the Doctor replied, still aiming the gun at her. "You can never accomplish enough."

"That's the point."

"Than what's the point?" the Time Lord argued back.

"Because we pick up where others left off and we add to their legacy. We build up and then we move on. That's why."

"Philosopher's talk. People don't matter.

"What about the others?" pleaded River. "Amy and Rory… what about them? And that Donna woman. What about your family and, and Jenny. Sarah Jane, Jo, Susan, Rose Ty-"

"Shut up," the Doctor ordered, gripping the gun even tighter.

"Because they still mean something to you, Doctor. You still feel something for them. You still _care_."

"If you don't want to be quiet, I'll do it for you."

River's eyes went wide as she instinctively shot her beam twice. She felt the impact of the other gun's bullet as she tried to roll away. Her left shoulder felt shattered, but her attention was on the withering man on the floor. At once she realized what she had done. Dropping her own gun, she crawled over to him. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she muttered "sorry" over and over again.

The Doctor laughed, a different laugh. Not the manic one but the "yeah, me too" laugh. "We were brilliant," he smiled.

"Yeah we were," River agreed. "So were all the others." She held his hand as he closed his eyes. The next morning the Shadow Proclamation found her. She was charged with murder of the Doctor and the planet's natives. She pleaded guilty.

In the Medusa Cascade light years away, the name sewn into the rift shimmered away and dispersed throughout the universe like stardust. Everyone felt it, everyone heard it, but only a few understood it. What was left of him was gone. The Valeyard laughed one last time.

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**a Valeyard fic  
follow up to come later **


	2. Calm Before the Storm

**Part two**

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River Song was charged with fifty years in the Stormcage Prison. Of course, she'd managed to escape a few times. The first was the Pandorica, second was when she was asked to track down that angel. Oh the running and the old glory days.

But she knew how it would end.

She earned a pardon and settled down. She became a professor. Her life just passed slowly in the right order, no more adventures.

One evening, after she had ordered the house robot to clear up the dinner table, she received a ring on her communicator. Someone was at her front door. She opened it up and there he was. The Doctor, the old one. Before all the pain and sadness took over. His eyes were shining with tears, the TARDIS right behind him. He led her into the magical box and took her to the most beautiful place she'd ever seen: the Singing Towers of Darillium. Upon parting, he handed her his sonic screwdriver. River almost cried at how their hands fit together so perfectly. He took his hand away and the light from the singing towers reflected against the ancient screwdriver.

"You'll need it more than I do," he whispered. "I'm your Doctor."

She just smiled as he left and told him, "You're everybody's Doctor. Don't forget that."

The next day she departed for the Library. Her last adventure.

She reveled in the irony as she sacrificed her life for him. Maybe she should just let him die here and save the universe the trouble. But she can't. All those times, those wonderful, brilliant, fantastic, _magnificent_ times they had. He would watch them run, and we could break. The final straw would be the loss of every companion he had. The final straw was the Valeyard.

_Hush now, spoilers._


End file.
